In a Moment
by Miss Pennyfeather
Summary: Hermione runs into Draco at a very bad time, but both manage to help each other.


**Hi, this is another one of my guilty pleasures (apart from Pansy/Ron and Hermione/young Severus- I have an issue with the latter) Hermione/Draco. I usually like writing more Draco/Ginny things but I have to admit Hermione and Draco are a bit more exciting. Anyway, I changed a few things in the fic - Hermione doesn't conjure the canaries anymore. Hope you like it. **

**In a Moment **

Her heart skipped a beat, right before stopping entirely. The Common Room was full of smoke and laughter and _them_.

Nobody thought it was disgusting and abnormal that Ron and Lavender were snogging each other. It was just the average couple, getting together at a party.

Hermione loathed the people around her for encouraging this, she loathed Lavender for running up to him only because he was a _Quidditch hero_, but most of all, she loathed him, Ronald Weasley, who would have anyone else but her, who did not care if he hurt her.

She was aware that this radical feeling was irrational and unlike herself. She knew her anger and disappointment could not go any longer without her eyes shedding tears.

And it was so ridiculous! Crying for Ron of all people…

She broke away from the crowd and rushed through the portrait, burning the image of the two of them inside her mind.

She was about to blow a fuse and unless she calmed down, something nasty would ensue.

Hermione crept inside a deserted classroom and shut the door behind her.

She inspected the room sharply and proving it was empty she put a Silencio charm at the door and conjured a couple of vases and fragile looking porcelains and she swished her wand unforgivably over every one of them, their crash making a brash, deafening sound on the stone floor.

'What the bloody Devil are you doing here, Granger?'

The voice made her jump out of her shoes but when she turned and saw Draco Malfoy, looking impeccable and snobby in his black suit and pale, troubled face she almost felt like digging a hole and hiding in it. She had not wanted _Malfoy _to see this embarrassing scene. If anyone should have been present to this outburst it should have been only her.

'Practicing,' she said clipped, folding her hands defensively.

'How to be a moronic, daft idiot with no sense of values?'

'Do you ever grow tired of hearing your voice? Get out Malfoy. I want to be alone.'

'Excuse me, Granger, but you were the one who burst into this class like a bloody lunatic. You get out.'

'No. You have no business being here. As Prefect I order you,' she said sternly, half a tear caught in the corner of her eye. She remembered she would have to patrol with Ron the following night.

'I bet you're moping about that Weasel arse. Well, I'll have you know, I don't take orders from you, Mudblood.'

Hermione stared at him, shocked that he still used that appellative when he knew she couldn't stand, wouldn't allow such horrible…

But strangely enough she felt no urge to contradict him or argue with him about that.

His insult did not touch her. Hearing him mention Ron in such vulgar, nasty terms made her feel slightly better, almost as if her heart felt easier.

In a sudden chain-reaction she would later blame on the fumes of the Explosive Snaps in the common room, she stepped towards him, grabbed his shirt slightly and kissed him on the lips briefly. She kept her eyes shut tight.

If Ron and Lavender could snog and eat their faces in public, right in front of her, she could bloody well kiss Draco Malfoy, if she wanted.

Hermione instantly stepped back as if burnt by a cold, smouldering fire of guilt, combined with fright and she quickly dashed out of the classroom.

Draco Malfoy stood back, flabbergasted and unable to move as he registered what just happened. He brushed his lips shivering and groaned frustrated.

What the Devil had possessed Granger? And why on Earth had he permitted her to jump him like that?

Next time…next time he'd return the favour and hex her off.

He felt dizzy and unwell, but a small part of him also felt the task before him that night slightly…easier and almost bearable. He had been shown raw emotion, which he needed. And the sad part was that, indirectly, he owned that to a Weasley.


End file.
